Original Post:
Seattle Police Force Investigation detectives are investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred near Queen Anne’s Kerry Park earlier this afternoon.
West Precinct patrol officers were dispatched to a report of an attempted car theft in the 1500 block of Queen Anne Avenue N around 1:45 p.m.
Officers arrived just minutes later and confronted the knife wielding suspect near Kerry Park. One officer used a Taser to try and subdue the suspect but without success. Another An officer fired upon and wounded the suspect.
Seattle Fire medics provided emergency care to the suspect and transported him to Harborview Medical Center. The suspect’s injuries appear to be non-life threatening.
The suspect is an African American man in his thirties. Police are working to gather additional details on his identity.
As per SPD policy, designed in collaboration with the Department of Justice, detectives from the Force Investigation Team and Crime Scene Investigators are on-scene with representatives from the Office of Professional Accountability to collect evidence and review the incident.
Per department policy, the officer involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
This is a developing incident and we will update this post with additional information as it becomes available.
Update 1:
The suspect in today’s incident has been identified as James Linwood Slade, age 31.
At the time of the confrontation, he was wanted in all 50 states for failure to report to his Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) community corrections officer as required by his supervision conditions. The underlying offense for his DOC status is assault. The warrant, dated January 4, 2016, indicates that Slade has a violent history and may be armed.
Update 2:
Newly released dashcam video shows one officer shoot James Slade as he advances with a raised knife.
Still armed with a knife and now wounded, Slade can be heard pleading with officers to kill him. Slade stands up and climbs into the driver’s seat of a patrol car. It is at this point that another officer tases him, something that is sequentially different from our original post and is corrected above.
Dashcam shows officers remove Slade from the patrol car and provide first aid until Seattle Fire medics arrive on scene.